My Eating Philosophy

The Way I EatI try to split my weekly meals by having around 2 portions of fish per week, one of which will be an oily fish such as salmon, and the rest of the week is mainly made up of poultry (mainly chicken) with a few days of meat-free cooking. I’ll also occasionally indulge in some red meat but I do limit this. It’s about finding the right balance and planning ahead so that you’re always on top of your meals and not getting in after 5pm and wondering what on earth you’re having for dinner!

It’s also about your portion control and how you choose to balance your plate, as well as your meals. As a general rule of thumb I stick to the following proportions:

One additional point to note on portions is that although that’s how my plate is split, it doesn’t mean the portions themselves are small. I would much rather have a larger portion of a healthy dish and as a result be fuller for longer rather than a small plate and be hungry after an hour and wondering what I can have next.

I’ll also mainly drink water. I found that in the past it can be quite a challenge getting in your 2 litres per day (1.5 litres for women) especially if you’re out and about it’s quite easy to forget. So if you only drink water and not a mix of other drinks you’re more likely to get the right amount that your body needs. Try to drink it throughout the day at regular intervals rather than all at once, that way it is more effective in the role it plays within our bodies.

There are so many benefits to drinking water. They transport nutrients and carry vitamins and minerals between our cells, they export waste and toxins, they help to regulate body temperature through sweat and even help us swallow our food.

The Problem With Diets

The problem with diets is that they’re usually unsustainable. They require you to alter your eating habits, often in an extreme way, to the point in which after a certain period of time you give up and revert back to your old ways, usually with a loss of motivation thrown in because you feel you’ve failed.

I’m about making small changes on a regular basis. My philosophy is about making more of the right choices on a regular basis over a consistent period of time. To me this is how you’ll benefit and make healthy eating your one and only ‘diet’ – it’s how I lost my weight.

Don’t get me wrong I still like to indulge on an occasional basis. The phrase ‘everything in moderation’ certainly has some truth that I applied to my own lifestyle change as it used to be very much ‘whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it’ and I consumed too many unhealthy snacks way too often. You don’t have to give up anything you like but if you know it’s probably not the best thing for you, limit yourself to it, don’t stock up on it and only consume it as a ‘one-off reward’ instead for all the hard-work you’re putting in.

You should never fast or avoid eating altogether just for the sake of trying to lose weight. Food gives you calories and calories provide energy so that our organs can function, our body can grow and also repair itself. Food provides vital nutrients, vitamins and minerals which allow our bodies and our mind to develop in numerous ways. The key is in getting it right.

It’s important to note that these aren’t targets. You don’t need to aim towards them but generally-speaking you shouldn’t often go over unless your goal is to gain weight which can often be the case if you’re looking to ‘bulk up’.

About The BlogI’ve created Food&Fitness Always with these principles in mind. The idea is to help those that want a healthier lifestyle but aren’t 100% sure how to get started and how to organise their kitchen, right through the process of how to eat healthier as well as learning how to cook properly to the point in which it becomes part of their lifestyle.

It’s also a place for those that are already on that journey and perhaps aren’t exactly sure where they want to go from this point. Perhaps they want to learn more about cooking, want some gym inspiration or just get some additional food inspiration through the many healthy recipes I publish (with the occasional treat thrown in!).